Last month, Cory Mills’ career in Congress imploded when the Florida Republican lost his primary by 13 points.
asserted
Republican → implode → points
Now part of a weapons facility operated by a company that Mills co-owns has exploded.
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Mills → operate → company
The incident occurred on Wednesday evening at a Pacem Defense facility in northern Florida and caused no injuries, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
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Office → occur → statement
Mills, who entered Congress in 2023, has said that he stepped away from running his arms companies years ago, but he still owns a majority stake in Pacem Defense, according to his most recent congressional financial disclosure.
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he → enter → disclosure
The explosion at Pacem Defense, which specialized in making and selling high explosive grenades to foreign militaries, was apparently massive.
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which → specialize → militaries
The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said in its statement that one building at the Pacem facility sustained “significant damage” in the explosion, adding on Facebook that “[m]any residents heard and felt” it.
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residents → say → it
One person who lives about three miles away from the facility wrote on the site that her brick home started shaking.
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home → live → site
The sheriff’s office said that neither of the two workers who were at Pacem Defense at the time of the explosion were harmed.
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who → say → explosion
It added that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Defense, and the Florida state Fire Marshal’s office are now involved in the investigation.
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Bureau → add → investigation
Since 2025, the scandal-plagued Florida man has been accused of stealing valor, placed under a restraining order by a judge after subjecting an ex-girlfriend to “dating violence” via cyberstalking, and was nearly arrested after being accused of domestic assault by a different girlfriend.
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man → plague → girlfriend
(That partner later retracted the allegation and no charges were filed.)
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charges → retract → allegation
As I reported in a February profile of Mills, the full list is much longer.
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list → report → Mills
Nevertheless, Mills managed to secure Donald Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement” earlier this year.
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Mills → manage → Endorsement
Despite that support, Mills was easily defeated in his August primary by Ryan Elijah, a former local TV news anchor.
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Mills → defeat → Elijah
In late 2025, Pacem indefinitely furloughed many of its employees after racking up tens of millions of dollars in debt, according to court records.
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Pacem → furlough → records
It has remained largely shuttered since then, a former employee told me on Thursday.
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employee → remain → Thursday
(In March, Craig Pittman called the Pacem facility a “ticking time bomb.”)
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Pittman → call → facility
According to a Florida court filing, Pacem ended up owing a Canadian lender more than $66 million.
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Pacem → accord → million
In another case, Pacem is subject to an order under which it is obligated to pay $8 million to an arms company that bought grenades from Pacem but never received them.
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that → obligate → them
A status update submitted in federal court on Wednesday states that Pacem has still not “paid any portion of the judgment amount.”
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Pacem → submit → amount
Mills’ financial disclosure states that he also maintains a 100 percent interest in Pacem Estate Holdings, the real estate entity that owns the site where the explosion on Wednesday occurred.
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explosion → state → Wednesday
According to court records, Pacem Estate Holdings continued to receive $12,000 per month in rent from another Pacem entity while the company’s workers were out of work.
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workers → accord → work
Last Thursday, after remaining mostly silent on social media in the wake of his primary defeat, Mills struck a defiant tone on X—posing in front of a wall of fire and water in a tight polo with a Swiss watch that can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
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that → remain → dollars
“A Phoenix rises from the ashes,” Mills declared.
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Mills → rise → ashes
Six days later, the ashes appear to have become real.
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ashes → appear → ?
The Aporia
